Registry used to track Arabs and Muslims
dismantled by Obama administration (The
Guardian, Australia) Dec 23 - The Obama administration is dismantling a discriminatory surveillance
system that was used after 9/11 to keep tabs on Arabs and Muslims across the
US, in a move that will make it more difficult for president-elect Donald Trump
to achieve his goal of introducing a Muslim registry.

Cairo Coptic cathedral blast kills at least
25 (ABC News) Dec 12 - A bombing at Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral has killed 25
people and injured another 49, according to Egyptian state television, making
it one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in
recent memory.

Also:
Second Abbas brother in court over
Christmas terror raids (Brisbane
Times) Dec 24 - Police have returned to one of the homes targeted by Friday's terror
raids, while a fourth man accused of planning to bomb Melbourne landmarks on
Christmas Day has appeared in court with a black eye.

Christmas is not a 'great escape' but a
time to come together (Brisbane
Times) Dec 25 - Christmas is not a time to escape the realities of the world and look
the other way but to shine a light on the tragedies of the world and embrace
the new possibilities of 2017, that is the message put forth by Brisbane's
Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Anglican Archbishop Dr Phillip Aspinall
for Christmas 2016.

Chrismukkah? I’ll light a candle to that (The Guardian, Australia) Dec 25 – (Opinion: Hadley Freeman) I might say my prayers in Hebrew instead of
Latin but I want to eat chocolate Santas for 10 days straight, too, OK?